An ongoing edible adventure

16 April 2010

Postcard from Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

Dear fellow seafood obsessives,

I've seen some impressive seafood markets while on the road, but boy, Tusikiji Fish Market in Tokyo takes the fishcake! Remember when I said I'd died and gone to heaven when I stepped into La Boqueria in Barcelona? Well, take that, add the floor space of all of Barcelona's 39 other municipal food markets, fill it all with just seafood, and there you have Tsukiji's inner-core wholesale market. (Tsukiji market's outer ring sells other food and kitchen products). If I died here due to the stray swing of a tuna hook or axe (below), it wouldn't be a half bad way to go.

And here's some cracked open sea urchin. At Daiwa, we were served the largest sea urchin nigiri I'd ever seen. This stuff still freaks me out, admittedly, so it was quite the I-can't-fit-it-in-one-bite-but-don't-want-to-make-it-last-two dilemma.

Pop quiz! If you combined all the squid, cuttlefish and octopus sold at Tsukiji in a day, how many tentacles in total would that be? Bonus question: If today represents a 3% drop in volume from last year, how many tentacles were sold in total last year?

Answer: I don't know, but I sure wish I got taught Math in school this way.

I also saw shellfish that must have come from Brobdingnag. Each of those mussels(?) clams(?) alien pods(?) (I have no idea, but the 2nd word of the sign reads "mountain") on the left is larger than my hand. And check out the size of those blood cockles! Almost the size of my fluttering heart.

Ugly pugly, I know, but it's just the abalone and sea snail's attempt at presuading predators that "oh no no no, I'm not delightfully sweet and crunchy and chewy at all". If you're grimacing "eeeeew gross", then their ruse has worked, and I'm as pleased as they -- more for me!

Comments

Postcard from Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo

Dear fellow seafood obsessives,

I've seen some impressive seafood markets while on the road, but boy, Tusikiji Fish Market in Tokyo takes the fishcake! Remember when I said I'd died and gone to heaven when I stepped into La Boqueria in Barcelona? Well, take that, add the floor space of all of Barcelona's 39 other municipal food markets, fill it all with just seafood, and there you have Tsukiji's inner-core wholesale market. (Tsukiji market's outer ring sells other food and kitchen products). If I died here due to the stray swing of a tuna hook or axe (below), it wouldn't be a half bad way to go.

And here's some cracked open sea urchin. At Daiwa, we were served the largest sea urchin nigiri I'd ever seen. This stuff still freaks me out, admittedly, so it was quite the I-can't-fit-it-in-one-bite-but-don't-want-to-make-it-last-two dilemma.

Pop quiz! If you combined all the squid, cuttlefish and octopus sold at Tsukiji in a day, how many tentacles in total would that be? Bonus question: If today represents a 3% drop in volume from last year, how many tentacles were sold in total last year?

Answer: I don't know, but I sure wish I got taught Math in school this way.

I also saw shellfish that must have come from Brobdingnag. Each of those mussels(?) clams(?) alien pods(?) (I have no idea, but the 2nd word of the sign reads "mountain") on the left is larger than my hand. And check out the size of those blood cockles! Almost the size of my fluttering heart.

Ugly pugly, I know, but it's just the abalone and sea snail's attempt at presuading predators that "oh no no no, I'm not delightfully sweet and crunchy and chewy at all". If you're grimacing "eeeeew gross", then their ruse has worked, and I'm as pleased as they -- more for me!